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A Response to Soldier’s Home
The story “Soldier’s Home,” written by Ernest Hemmingway, is about a young man, Harold Krebs, returning to his small hometown in Oklahoma following World War I. Hemmingway opens the story just as Krebs leaves his Methodist college in Kansas to enlist in the Marines in 1917. He does not return home until two years later in the summer of 1919. Krebs does not get to return home with the first group of soldiers. By the time that Krebs returns home, the heroes’ welcome is over, everyone has moved on from the war and the townspeople have returned to their normal routine. Krebs was not greeted with excitement or celebration, instead most thought it was rather absurd he was returning so long after the war had ended. Krebs
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There is also conflict between Krebs and his family. Regardless of how the rest of the town felt, Krebs was still a hero to his younger sisters. His mother would have done anything for him, even breakfast in bed. She was concerned for her son and often asked for him to tell her about the war, although she never really listened. In Krebs’ family his father was the only one that never seemed to be around (Hemmingway 167). It seems Krebs’ family were the only ones he had any kind of connection with, but Krebs’ struggled just as much to talk to them as he did everyone else in town. He seems to have a good relationship with his sister, Helen, and thinks of her as, “his best sister” (Hemmingway 168). Helen has probably what is the best conversation with Krebs at breakfast one morning. Helen tells Krebs about her indoor softball game at school, later that day, and invites him to come. Helen asks Krebs if he loves her and Krebs replies with a less than enthusiastic, “Uh, huh.” Krebs is still unable to commit to going to Helen’s game though (Hemmingway …show more content…
His mother has worried about him since he returned home, but she remained silent for the first month. One day while Krebs was eating breakfast, his mother finally confronted him. “Have you decided what you are going to do yet, Harold?” she asked. Followed by, “Don’t you think its about time?” (Hemmingway 169). Krebs could not give an answer though, just that he had not thought about it. His mother goes on to tell Krebs how much she had worried about him and that she has been praying for him. Krebs does not respond and instead he only, “looked at the bacon fat hardening on his plate.” (Hemmingway 170). Krebs had been changed by the war and could not even say that he loved his own mother. His mother begins to cry and Krebs lies to her saying, “I was just angry at something. I didn’t mean I didn’t love you.” (Hemmingway 170). Krebs pleads with his mother to believe him and she does. Krebs tells her that he will, “be a good boy.” (Hemmingway
Krebs is a detached being who just wants to keep his life as uncomplicated as possible. He doesn't receive the same hearty welcome as his fellow soldiers, thanks to his returning home so much later than the rest. At first he doesn't want to talk about the war, presumably because of the atrocities he experienced there, but when he later feels the need to talk about it, no one w...
In "In Back From War,But Not Really Home" by Caroline Alexander, and "The Odyssey by homer both experience grief in their characters . survival , hope , and pain are the themes in the literature pieces .
A soldier’s wounds from war are not always visible. Louise Erdrich, the author of The Red Convertible, presents a short story about two Native American brothers Henry and Lyman, who live in North Dakota on an Indian Reservation. Henry and Lyman purchased a Red Convertible and took a trip across the United States with the car. Upon their return, Henry is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. When Henry finally came home, he was a different man. Like Henry, I have a nephew named Bobby, who serves in the United States Army. Bobby has seen more combat than most soldiers would like to see. The effects of war can be tough on a soldier when they are reintroduced back into society, just like Henry, my nephew had a tough time dealing with the effects of war.
... he doesn’t love her but he eventually says sorry. This shows Krebs is really confused on what to say now. He no longer wants to tell lie to the people around him and he stills feels like life will just be too complicated with the lies he’ll have to tell and the job he doesn’t want. “He had felt sorry for his mother and she had made him lie. He would go to Kansas City and get a job and she would feel all right about it” (7). Krebs may forever feel alone in this world that seems stuck in time. He may never feel how he felt before joining the marines. Krebs is living a life that he feels is much too complicated for him. He is no longer the same person he was two years ago. The person he once was is now somewhere buried deep beneath the lies he tells every day to bare the things he has done. Krebs is still fighting a war, not a physical war, but a war within himself.
In “Soldier’s Home,” the feeling of alienation is especially seen in the main character, Harold Krebs. He comes home much later from war than the rest of the soldiers in his town, so he missed the grand celebratory “welcome home”.
During this time period it was common for young men to enlist into the army for the thrill and honor. While this task is not as strenuous (in terms of literal battle) as being a on the front line of the field, the visions and experiences are definitely both life changing. While on the Italian front, Hemingway was seriously wounded by a mortar blast, following a machine gun while handing out supplies (165). Not only is the presence of war and injury presented in “Soldier’s Home,” but it is also prevalent in his other short stories that make up his collection In Our Time (165). It is evident that through the characters of his collections, that Hemingway first handedly understands the gravity of the impact that is left on people’s lives after returning from a war. This is evident in “Soldier’s Home” as he clearly depicts that not only was Krebs changed, but his mother was also distraught by her son’s mental
Hopeless Suffering in A Farewell to Arms Near the end of A Farewell to Arms Ernest Hemingway has Fredrick Henry describe the time he placed a log full of ants on a fire. This incident allows us to understand a much larger occurrence, Catherine's pregnancy. Combined, both of these events form commentary on the backdrop for the entire story, World War One. After he finds out his son was stillborn, Lt. Henry remembers the time when he placed a log full of ants on a fire.
When he arrives home from the war the first thing that he notices is that the population of his hometown hardly noticed his presence. Krebs was a soldier in the war and when the war was through he waited for a while to go back home. Krebs was still very shocked with what he saw during the war. When Krebs got to town at first he “did not want to talk about the war at all”, but later when “he felt the need to talk… no one wanted to hear about it” (Hemingway 611-12) Krebs had a lot of emotions coming back from the war and when he learned that no one was there for him to talk to about the things he had seen or done while off at war, he noticed how the American values had changed. One of the very first
The story opens with a photo of Krebs “attending Methodist college in Kansas before enlisting in the Marines to fight in World War I.” (“Overview: ‘Soldier’s Home’”). Krebs was in the Europe nation where he engaged in WWI. Many American veterans returned from fighting in areas such as Europe and Germany. After the war, Krebs returns to his small-town home in Oklahoma. The war ended in 1918 however, Krebs did not return home until 1919. When Krebs returns, “He is home, but it is no soldier’s home to which he has returned.” (Smelstor 3793). Krebs fills his day with sleep, reading, playing pool, and watching all the pretty girls from his porch. Throughout the story, the only way Krebs can draw in attention is by making up lies about his involvement in the war. His mother begs him to get a job and they pray together. “After this emotional lie, Harold Krebs decides to leave the Oklahoma town, go to Kansas City for a job, and live his life simply and smoothly.” (Smelstor 3794). In the end, Soldier’s Home represents only a place that is no longer what Krebs once called
Tina Chen’s critical essay provides information on how returning soldiers aren’t able to connect to society and the theme of alienation and displacement that O’Brien discussed in his stories. To explain, soldiers returning from war feel alienated because they cannot come to terms with what they saw and what they did in battle. Next, Chen discusses how O’Brien talks about soldiers reminiscing about home instead of focusing in the field and how, when something bad happens, it is because they weren’t focused on the field. Finally, when soldiers returned home they felt alienated from the country and
In the short story A Soldier’s Home, the conflict the main character Krebs is facing results from him returning home from World War I, in which he fights in five different battles. Krebs returns to his small town in Oklahoma after serving in the Army for two years, he does not get a welcome home parade or a thank you for his service. He is having a hard time readjusting to his “normal” life, family, and childhood home due to how much war has changed him. Krebs is also experiencing an inability to love, in the
The initial reaction I received from reading Soldier's Home, and my feelings about Soldier's Home now are not the same. Initially, I thought Harold Krebs is this soldier who fought for two years, returns home, and is disconnected from society because he is in a childlike state of mind, while everyone else has grown up. I felt that Krebs lost his immature years, late teens to early 20's, because he went from college to the military. I still see him as disconnected from society, because there isn't anyone or anything that can connect him to the simple life that his once before close friends and family are living. He has been through a traumatic experience for the past two years, and he does not have anyone genuinely interested in him enough to take the time to find out what's going on in his mind and heart. Krebs is in a battle after the battle.
Earnest Hemingway’s work gives a glimpse of how people deal with their problems in society. He conveys his own characteristics through his simple and “iceberg” writing style, his male characters’ constant urge to prove their masculinity.
...t although some of the soldiers may have made it home physically they were no longer able to recognize it as home.
As a first hand observer of the Civil War, the great American Poet, Walt Whitman once said,"The real war [of the mind] will never get in the books."Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a horrible mental ailment that afflicts thousands of soldiers every year. Besides the fact that it is emotionally draining for the soldier, it also deeply alters their family and their family dynamics. Ernest Hemingway’s “Soldier's Home” illustrates how this happens. Harold Krebs returns home from World War I. He has to deal with becoming reaccustomed to civilian life along with relearning social norms. He must also learn about his family and their habits. The ramifications of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder have a ripple effect on the lives of not only the victim, but also the friends and family they relate to.